Once We Were Built Like Towers
by Torey Roday
Summary: S7E7. Shawn leaves Santa Barbara to clear his mind on things that happened between him and Juliet. While going to the Psych office, Shawn sees someone following him. As he tries to get away, he realizes that this guy wants him dead. Juliet struggles if she should tell about Shawn not being a psychic, but when something happens to Shawn, no one will be thinking that he's a fake.
1. Night Changes

_Full Summary: Shawn plans on leaving Santa Barbara for a few days to clear his mind on things that happened between him and Juliet at Carlton and Marlowe's wedding party. While going to the Psych office, he notices someone had been following him. As he tries to get away, Shawn realizes that this stalker wants him dead. Meanwhile Juliet struggles if she should tell the others about Shawn not being a psychic, but when something happens to Shawn, no one will be thinking that he's a fake._

**Chapter 1: Night Changes**

Shawn walked out after Juliet threw her drink at him and rushed out of the room. She left in her car while Shawn watched her. His eyes were watery and he immediately felt cold with the wet shirt on.

He sat down at one of the outside tables and rested his head in his hands. He heard footsteps and turned around to see his best friend standing behind him.

"She found out, Gus." Shawn said in a sadly low deep voice before he turned back around.

Gus looked down then back at his old time childhood friend. "I'm sorry." Was all he could say. He knew Shawn just about fell in love with Juliet since the first day they officially started working for the Santa Barbara Police Department. Gus also knew Shawn didn't like the fact that he had to lie to her throughout their relationship.

He was going to tell her soon, but Juliet is smarter than that. She figured it out. Shawn wasn't a real psychic. Now she thought their whole relationship is a lie.

"That's not the worst part, though... she... she broke up with me." Gus' eyes went wide. Sure, he would have thought that Juliet would need some time to herself, but a breakup?

"How you holding up, Shawn?" Gus then said resting his hand on Shawn's shoulder.

Shawn shook his head. "I still lover her, Gus. I can't let her go." Shawn stared off into the darkness. Off in the distance, the two could hear their drunken friend Woody bickering to himself. Gus dropped his hand from where it had rested on Shawn's shoulder and placed it in his pant pocket.

"Its getting cold, Shawn. We should head back inside." Shawn nodded his head and stood.

"I actually was gonna leave and change my shirt." Shawn said while looking down to grab a hold of his white dress shirt stained with the drink he had given to Juliet, who then dumped it on him once she figured out what Shawn had been keeping from her.

Gus nodded his head, understanding. "Do you have a place to stay for the night?"

"I, uh, was thinking about staying at the Psych office. I have extra clothes there."

Gus responded with a simple "okay" and right before he left, Gus said, "Don't think about this too much, Shawn. Have a safe drive." while he looked into Shawn's glossy eyes.

"I'll be fine." Shawn assured his friend.

Gus returned inside while Shawn walked to the main road and got a taxi.

The taxi pulled up to a red and white house and once Shawn paid the driver, he headed up the two steps and sat down on the porch bench to his father's house.

Even though Henry's light green truck was parked on the driveway, Shawn knew that his dad still wasn't home from Carlton and Marlowe's wedding party, considering the fact that they took a Phat Cat Limo there.

Shawn sat there for a moment, got up, and went to the spot where Henry kept an extra key to the house.

Turning the knob and making his way up the stairs to his old bedroom, Shawn changed his shirt. He took some money that he stashed in his drawers - 108 dollars (and 38 cents) - and stuffed it into his pocket, he grabbed his old backpack. He grabbed a couple of shirts and underclothes and carelessly shoved it in the bag.

With the backpack hung over one shoulder, Shawn went and stood by the door to examine the room. He noticed a picture in a frame that sat on the nightstand by his old bed.

Shawn walked over to it and gently picked it up. It was a picture taken long ago when he was around eleven. In the picture was Shawn, Gus, and Henry. Shawn remembered that day. They were out fishing. That was the day Gus almost caught the biggest fish until Shawn broke the line and then caught the fish for himself. The picture showed all of them side hugging, holding their fishing gear with the lake and trees behind them on a warm sunny day.

Smiling back at the memories, Shawn opened the backpack, pulled out a shirt, wrapped the picture tightly in it and carefully placed it back into the bag. With one last look around the room, Shawn headed downstairs. When he reached the front door, he locked it and stepped outside. He ran to the neighbor's yard (the one who used to steal their newspaper) and hid the backpack in the bush, so when his father came, he wouldn't question what's in the backpack.

Shawn returned to the porch and sat back down on the bench. He stretched out his legs and rested both hands behind his head as he closed his eyes. He waited until his dad showed up.

* * *

"Shawn…. Shawn, wake up."

Shawn shook his head side from side, a gleam of light too bright hit his tired eyes. Wiping them, he heard a frustrated groan.

"Shawn, can you please tell me why in the world you're sleeping on the bench in the early morning?" He recognized the voice to be his dad's.

Yawning, Shawn asked, "What time is it?" and stretched his arms out.

"It's 4:31 a.m." Henry answered while watching Shawn stand up.

"4:31?!" He questioned, surprised. It was around 1 a.m. when he got there to pack.

"Yeah," Henry answered.

"Dad, we need to talk." Shawn said sitting back down. Henry sat down next to Shawn. He became concerned because when Shawn spoke, his voice sounded different. Shaky almost. Whether he was about to cry or because of the cold weather, Henry couldn't tell. He prayed for the second one.

"You wanna come inside?" Henry asked, pointing to the front door.

Shawn shook his head no. "I won't be here that long. I just need to tell you… I messed up big time, dad." Shawn waited for his father's response but never got one. "Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, I heard you, but what did you mess up on?" Shawn was surprised that Gus never told Henry about what happened between him and Juliet.

"Nothing," Shawn said and recovered with, "I was just thinking about a past case. But, um… I want to tell you, dad... that you're the best dad out there. And I appreciate all that you do for me, and I wish that I could repay you somehow." Shawn said, tears forming in his eyes.

"Shawn… are you in trouble?"

Shawn chuckled. "No, dad. I just… I just love you."

"And I love you too, Shawn. Always have, always will." Henry spoke softly.

"I know." Smiling at his dad, Shawn took Henry by surprise when he hugged him. The next moment, Henry hugged Shawn back, tears threatening to fall and roll down his face. But they didn't.

Once they let go of each other, Shawn stood up and said goodbye to his father. When he reached the white picket fence, he turned back watching his dad enter the house.

With a nod of his head, Shawn retrieved his bag from the neighbor's bush and headed down the road.

Whistling, Shawn made his way to the Psych office. As he opened the door, in the reflection he saw someone stop, then hid behind a tree.

Shawn was being followed.

Pretending he didn't see anything, Shawn continued whistling and closed and locked the door.

Immediately, Shawn messed up the front desk desperately trying to find the phone. They always had a habit of misplacing that thing.

With no success, Shawn stopped, said "silly me" and reached into his left front pant pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

He punched in Gus' name, clicked on it and put the phone up to his ear, waiting for Gus to answer.

"Hello! You've reached Burton Guster. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, so please leave your first and last name with your number and message, after the beep and I'll try to contact you back as soon as I can. Good day!"

"Ah, Gus-Gus. You didn't pick up your phone," Shawn said. He continued on with his message for another minute or so until he was cut off when he heard something crash. "... Listen, I gotta go." Shawn rushed as he ended the message. He grabbed his backpack, proceeding to leave through the back.

Once outside, Shawn looked to his left and then his right. On his right turned out to be the person who Shawn believed was following him.

They stared at each other for a moment until Shawn broke out into a run. There hadn't been much people around considering it was almost 5 in the morning, which made it easier to get around.

Shawn didn't dare to look back. He almost fell to his knees when an unexpected gun shot was heard. Shawn glanced back and noticed that whoever was chasing after him had shot a bystander.

He made a sharp turn to the right, then took a left and hopped into a taxi.

"Where to?" the driver had asked.

Two more gunshots were heard.

"Anywhere but here! Go, now!" Shawn yelled as the driver did just that.


	2. Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark Again!

**Chapter 2: Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark... Again?!**

Buzz pulled up to the scene of the crime. He heard on the police scanner that there had been shots fired by the beach, and since he was in that immediate area, he went to check it out.

"Over here!" He heard a voice call out. Buzz turned to see a woman dressed in joggers clothing on her cell phone as she waved him over. Right away Buzz noticed a man sitting on the bench, holding his right upper arm; blood had soaked the guys blue sleeve.

"He's been shot!" the woman said as she hung up her phone. "I just got off the phone with the police. You came here fast."

"I was just driving by when I heard it on the scanner. Someone must have heard the shots and called it in." Buzz said, before directing his attention to the man who was also dressed in joggers clothes. The man was breathing heavily. "Sir, just hang in there and take it easy." Buzz took a look at the wound. It had barely grazed the man, but still took a piece of skin off. "You'll live."

"It hurts like hell!" The man yelled.

"Tony!" the woman scolded him for yelling at the police.

"What, you want me to lie about the pain, Lisa?"

Buzz didn't seem fazed by being yelled at. "It's okay. The person who had the gun, where did they go?"

Lisa shook her head. "He took off; probably long gone by now."

"What happened here?" Buzz asked as he took out his notepad and pen.

"My husband and I were on our morning jog when this man ran right between us. At first I thought he was just in a rush, but then I heard a gunshot and when I looked at Tony, he was down, holding his arm. Next thing I know, the man who fired the gun runs past us and disappears around that corner." Lisa said, pointing in the direction the shooter left in.

"So there were two men? One was chasing the other?"

"Yup."

"Do remember what they looked like, what they were wearing?"

Tony spoke up saying, "The man that was running away had brown hair and wore a blue button up shirt with blue faded jeans. The second man with the gun wore all black."

Buzz nodded his head as he heard the sirens to the ambulance and police car coming closer to them. He finished his notes and tucked his notepad and pen back into his pocket. "I'll go check things out. You said he went right?" Lisa nodded her head and Buzz left in that direction.

He turned the corner and walked a couple of steps further. So far, there wasn't anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Buzz looked to the street off to his left and noticed some tire marks left behind.

"Could be something," Buzz thought to himself.

* * *

"These are definitely fresh." Carlton said after examining the tire tracks that Buzz had directed him and Juliet to. Buzz wasn't the least bit surprised to see Lassiter on the job, even though his wedding day was yesterday and he should be on his honeymoon. But Lassiter insisted that he would be leaving for his honeymoon with Marlowe this coming Friday so that they would have a romantic weekend to themselves.

Lassiter got up from his crouch position to notice that Juliet seemed kind of out of it. "O'Hara," Carlton said once more, snapping his fingers to get his partner's attention.

"I'm sorry, what?" Juliet said, shaking her head.

"Sorry to disrupt your daydreaming there, but we have a job to do. The marks are fresh."

"Okay, so we can try asking the neighbors here if they saw anything or heard anything unusual in the past half hour."

"That's what I was thinking. McNab, what do you got for us?" By this time Lassiter, Juliet, and Buzz were walking back to the scene of the crime.

"Married couple were out for their morning jog, apparently a man with a gun was chasing another man and when he tried to aim fire on his person of interest, he shot one of the joggers. Mrs. Kimberlee, the elderly who lives four houses down, was the first of many to call the police about the shots."

The trio made it back to the crime scene, where they also happened to see Gus making his way toward them.

"Hey, Gus!" Buzz said.

"Hello Buzz, Lassie... Jules." Juliet stared at Gus. Something about the way he said her name seemed like he wanted to say more to her, but he held back instead.

"Where's Shawn?" Buzz asked.

"I don't know. I guess he should be here in a few minutes. I called the Psych office and left him a message to come meet me here."

"Was Shawn at the office this morning?" Lassiter then asked.

Gus nodded his head. "As far as I know from what he told me, he should have spent the night there."

"Then let's head there." Lassiter said, already walking over to the Psych office. "Maybe Shawn might have heard something."

"Yeah," Buzz then said, "maybe we can take him to those tracks and see if he can pick up any psychic readings on them."

Juliet tensed a little. Hearing Buzz say that made her feel all emotional inside because she now knew that Shawn wasn't a real psychic. And it hurt her to know that Shawn had played them all into thinking that he was. How much longer was he going to play this game of his, the game of pretending to be a psychic so he wouldn't go to jail?

Juliet so badly wanted to tell Buzz the truth. She wanted to tell everybody in the station, but in a way she felt like that would be betraying Shawn. Which made absolutely no sense to her because Shawn was the one who had betrayed her. He lied about who he really was. He lied to her day after day after day. What if all those "I love you's" he said to her were all lies? Just to play his role into not getting jail time?

No, she couldn't think like that. Not right now. She was going to see him and needed to act professional about this. For the case.

They came up to the Psych office. Gus pulled out his keys to unlock the door. Juliet took deep breaths to control her anxiety.

"Shawn." Gus called out. They walked further in, making their way over to where their desks where.

"What the hell happened in here?" Lassiter said as they observe the room. Both desks were a complete mess with papers and little toy figurines scattered on the desks and the floor. Thinking that the place was robbed or someone might still be in the building, Lassiter and Buzz drew their weapons and scoped the rest of the place out.

"Gus, where's Shawn?" Juliet asked. She knew that she had to remain calm, but this was Shawn and Juliet cared for him. Maybe more than she realized.

"I don't know! Shawn!" Gus yelled out.

Lassiter and Buzz came back. "He's not here. Maybe he left for some breakfast."

"I hope so." Gus said. "Wait a second," Gus took out his phone from his front pocket. "Buzz, when did the calls for the shots start being reported?"

Buzz thought about it for a second. "About 10 minutes before 5. Why?"

"Shawn left me a voice message at 4:48. Two minutes before the calls started coming."

"What did he say?" Juliet said.

Gus shrugged his shoulders. "I never heard it yet."

"Well, play it." Lassiter said.

Gus gave Lassie the look. "You must be out of your damn mind! This is my work phone and there's no way that I'm going to be answering a message left by Shawn on here! We can wait for an hour to see if he comes back from wherever he is."

"Burton, give me the phone!" Lassiter said, reaching for the phone. Gus pulled his arm back preventing Lassie to reach his work phone, not realizing that he had practically made it easy for Juliet to take the phone right out of his hand. And that is exactly what Juliet did.

She quickly pressed on Shawn's message and put it on speaker so they all could hear.

"Ah, Gus-Gus. You didn't pick up your phone," Shawn's voice said through the phone's speakers. "I think I'm being followed. It might just be nothing, I could be just paranoid, you know, after what happened at Lassie and Marlowe's party... but anyways, I didn't get a good look at the dude's face. He's wearing all black clothing; even rocking the hoodie and beanie, too." The gang's face went slightly pale because of the suspect who shot that jogger guy Tony was wearing all black, chasing a brown haired man. Shawn. "But he had something all over his clothes and face. It was blood, Gus -" There was a loud crashing noise that was heard."... Listen, I gotta go."

Juliet, Gus, Lassie and Buzz stared at the phone. The message was over but they were a little afraid. Their friend was possibly taken by some serial killer and it may be too late for them to find him. Racing through their minds were the tire tracks. Worst case scenario, the guy could have caught up to Shawn and stuffed him into the trunk of some sports car...

* * *

_**Author's Note:** So, technically this ending doesn't count as a cliff hanger, right? More to be posted soon!_


	3. We Got Work to Do

**_A/N:_** _I know it has been sooooooooooooo long since I last posted but I had to post this today because that last death threat seemed pretty serious and it was from my sister: Once Lived (she writes for The Walking Dead) she actually helped with this chapter a little bit, so I hope you all enjoy! And I will be back sooner than last time. Swear. I will be updating Wednesdays and Saturdays (she got me on a schedule now lol)_

**Chapter 3: We Got Work to Do**

"Shawn." Juliet said sadly.

"The guy that was running away was probably Shawn." Buzz said what they had all feared.

"It has to be." Lassiter then said, "The description of the guy he saw running away matches Shawn and the suspect was wearing all black - exactly what Shawn described in the message."

"Well what are we doing here?" Gus spoke up. "We should be out finding Shawn!"

"We have no reliable leads." Lassiter tried to reason with Gus but he already knew that he wasn't going to win the argument.

"The tire tracks! At least we know what direction they went."

Buzz shook his head. "That's the only lead we have. There's no way of telling which way they could have turned."

"Yes there is." The guys turned to face Juliet. "The county installed traffic cameras over by that avenue about three weeks ago."

"Then let's go." Gus said as he was making his way to the door.

"Okay, but none of you breathe a word of this to Henry until we officially know that Spencer's missing."

Gus turned to Lassiter. "But that's his son. Henry has a right to know."

"He would just get in the way. You name three good reasons why I should pick up the phone and call Henry."

Gus shot back with, "One: those people described what could be Shawn. Two: didn't you hear the message? And three: you even said so yourself that it has to be Shawn!"

Lassiter brushed it off. "Those are just opinions and speculation. Half the people in Santa Barbara have brown hair and I don't really remember what I said. Except for the part where Henry doesn't need to be called right now. Now, the second one is a little tricky, but it could have been anything that broke. God knows what lurks in this hellhole." The head detective said as he looked around the cluttered office. "Anyways, we need to go check those cameras."

Lassiter walked out of the Psych office. Buzz followed Lassie while giving Gus a sympathetic look. Gus was about to follow after them but Juliet stopped him.

"Shawn, he… he told you about last night, didn't he?" Gus could only nod his head. "And you know that he's..."

"Yeah, I knew. I'm sorry, Juliet." Juliet looked down. "For what it's worth, Shawn really does like you. I mean, he likes you a lot."

"Thanks, Gus. I really needed to hear that. But it doesn't change anything. Shawn lied about who he was. I still have a job to do."

"Then why haven't you told anyone yet? You could have gone to the chief. You could have told Lassie and Buzz right now. Why hold back?"

"I don't know."

"Then I'll tell you why. Deep down inside, you know Shawn has helped solved a hundred cases that no one else could solve. He's making this county a safer one. Sure, he might not be gifted with psychic abilities but he's gifted with something more." When Juliet didn't say anything, Gus said, "I think we better get going."

* * *

Gus and Juliet met up with Lassiter and Buzz at the police department. They were huddled by a computer, staring at the screen. They saw Shawn running, then jumped into a taxi. The taxi drove off, leaving behind the marks Buzz had seen on the street.

"I don't know about you guys, but that definitely looks like my best friend." Gus said as he eyed the back of Lassie's head.

"I don't know about your best friend, but that looked like Shawn to me." Buzz pointed out as the whole group turned to him with an eye roll.

"Right," Juliet said as she eyed Buzz for one last moment and shook her head, "now we need someone to get the name of the taxi company and find out where that taxi went."

"On it." Buzz said as he turned to leave.

"What now, O'Hara?" Lassie said.

Juliet took a deep breath in. "We go to Henry." She ignored the sigh of relief from Gus. Before her partner could protest, Jules added, "We know for sure that it is Shawn, and I want Henry to know just if something happens. Hopefully nothing does." Juliet muttered the last part.

"Okay." Lassie unwillingly agreed.

"We'll take the blueberry." Gus said with a satisfied smile as he made his way toward the door.

* * *

"Why me?" Gus questioned as they pulled into the driveway of Henry's house.

"You're Shawn's best friend and you've known Henry longer. I'm sure you know how to break the news to him." Jules said.

"Yeah, and you're his son's girlfriend." Gus shot back as Juliet gave him a look, and when he reached the steps of the house, the front door swung open. Henry stood there with his fishing gear in hand complete with his fishing hat. He was caught off guard but quickly recomposed himself as the three stood there and stared blankly at him.

"Henry!" The three nervously shouted at the same time.

Henry took one step out of the house and looked around his surroundings. "Where's Shawn?"

Gus widened his eyes. "Why would you assume Shawn's missing?" That earned a head smack from Lassie.

"I'm not, unless he is." Henry countered.

Juliet stood beside Gus who continued to ramble on. She blocked their voices out. It had just hit her, Shawn was missing. She didn't know how she felt. The feeling was foreign to her; a mixture of fear, worry, and anger. She couldn't focus, but she needed to. This was her job, she needed to find Shawn and bring him back safe. And that is just what she was going to do. "Gus, stop talking." She finally snapped - for his own good or he would have hyperventilated- "Henry." Juliet started, forcing a kind smile. "You can't go fishing." She started, but stopped short as she didn't know what else to say.

"What are you talking about? Why not?" Henry questioned.

"It's not a good day for the fish..." Gus quickly answered as he scrunched his eyebrows and thought about how dumb his answer was.

"It's never a good day when their about to get hooked." Henry joked waving his fishing pole around.

"True." Gus nodded with a shrug.

With that Henry took another step as the three took a step towards him, blocking his way to leave.

"What's the rush?" Jules again smiled throwing her hands in the air.

"What's the rush? The rush is I need to get a good spot, last time some old guy took it." He explained, as Lassie managed to suppress a mean comment.

"Don't you just hate that." Gus said so sincerely.

"Ugh!" Lassiter huffed. They didn't come for small talk and it seemed like Juliet and Gus were having a hard time delivering the news to Henry. "Shawn is missing." He finally came out with it.

Henry shook his head. "What are you talking about? I talked to him this morning." He assured.

The three looked shock as Lassiter pulled out a note pad. "What time did you talk to him?"

"What the hell is that for?" Henry pointed to the notes Lassiter was writing. "It was around 4:30 A.M. or so." He reluctantly answered.

Gus looked in between the two men. "Shawn didn't show up for a case this morning." Gus mentioned.

"It's Shawn, what sounds suspicious about that?" Henry questioned.

Juliet started in, "Buzz responded to a call about shots being fired near the Psych office. The victims described a gun man running after a guy that wore a blue button up shirt -"

"That's what Shawn was wearing this morning." Henry interrupted.

"Exactly; and never mind the fact that the three of us seen Shawn on video trying to get away." Lassie pointed out.

"We need to find my son." Henry dropped all his fishing gear and pushed it to the side. "We got work to do."

* * *

Shawn woke; felt panic flood his body when he tired to remember where he was. The taxi he had been riding in was flipped upside down. Shawn crawled out through the window, and was about to go pull the driver out, but realized he was too late. A shard of glass had cut through the man's throat. Shawn drew out a shaky breath as he shook his head. He remembered that he was being chased and had jumped into the taxi. After that, they thought they were in the safety but then they were bombarded with bullets from behind. They tried dodging them. Shawn saw where the car had flipped. They were in a small ditch, off to the side of the road, in what looked like the middle of nowhere. He heard footsteps come from behind him; as he turned around, he was hit on the head and passed out.


	4. Darth Vader?

_**A/N:** Sorry if this is a little late, but I kind of lost track of the days._

**Chapter 4: Darth Vader?**

It was a hard day for Gus. Running around everywhere to look for Shawn was exhausting, but he wasn't going to stop until he found him. They were now at the station with Henry as they all marched their way to chief Vick's room. Of course Gus was ahead of them all, and happened to reach the door first. He politely knocked on it before Henry caught up and pushed open the door with Gus walking in right behind him.

"Henry?!" Chief Vick sounded offended and shocked at the way the retired officer had barged into her office. "I would have expected this from your son, but you?" She went on her rant.

"Karen, Shawn has gone missing." He explained before Lassiter came running in with Jules.

"Chief," Lassiter started, as he looked between Henry, Gus, and Chief Vick. "Spencer's missing."

Vick pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, I believe we've already discovered that a few moments previous." She stated shaking her head and looked up at them all. "How? And when? And most importantly, why does Henry know before me?" She questioned, mostly eyeing her lead detective.

Lassiter raised a brow. Of course he was getting blamed for one thing after another, but like always, he accepted it and continued on. "It was Gus' idea." He testified.

"So you take orders from Mr. Guster now?" She mused.

"No that-that's not-" Lassiter stuttered before Gus decided to help out.

"Yes, it was my idea to go to Henry. He needed to know and I do not regret my decision." Gus explained as chief Vick simply nodded with a lift in her brow.

"Okay, well, tell me what evidence you have all gathered." She said taking a seat in her chair.

"What are you doing?" Henry questioned watching her sit back. "My son is gone, we need to get the whole station on this case." He explained.

"Henry, I need to know what we've got before I stand out there and tell the others." Vick assured.

Lassiter pulled out his note pad and flipped it open to the page he needed it on. He had explained everything to chief Vick, including the video that clearly showed Shawn getting into a taxi as it sped off. That was all Vick needed to get the search started. She stood from her seat and made her way out of her office to a clear whiteboard and wrote 'Shawn Spencer' and circled it with a red marker. She cleared her throat which caught the attention of the officers near by. Lassiter went to stand beside her as he fixed his tie with Juliet on the other side of her. Gus and Henry stood at the back and watched the three call for everyone's attention.

"Listen up closely!" Lassiter called out.

"We've received some calls about a gunman running after an unarmed man. A civilian was injured with a shot to the arm by the gunman, who we believe was trying to shoot the victim. Nonetheless this man is dangerous. And after going into further research we believe that the victim is our very own, Shawn Spencer." Chief Vick explained. "We know Spencer was wearing a-"

"Blue button up, and his regular jeans with his black converse." Henry finished.

"Yes. Now we need everyone here on this case. This is important that we find Shawn and get the gunman off the streets before he hurts someone else." Juliet explained.

"Spencer's last whereabouts were around his Psych office. I want officers -"

Lassiter was interrupted when Buzz came rushing towards them. "I got a call! There was a taxi flipped on the side of a road… same plate from the video."

Juliet felt her heart drop as Lassiter jumped into action. "Henry, Gus," Lassiter called out as he headed for the door, "you two need to stay here. O'Hara, lets go."

Henry wanted to say something but everyone was too busy scrambling around. Henry then turned to Gus and slightly whispered, "You know we're not just going to wait around here, right?"

"You know that's right." Gus said as he followed Henry out the back door.

* * *

Shawn opened his eyes to complete darkness. It was then he realized his was blindfolded and currently being tied down to a chair. His whole body was swore and his head was throbbing. He didn't know where he was, who had taken him, or if help was on the way, but what he did know was that his best friend must be doing everything in his power to find him.

Loud footsteps sounded the small room as Shawn tensed up and swallowed hard.

"Shawn Spencer." The voice was male and deep, but it didn't faze Shawn as he let out a laugh.

"Wow, has someone ever told you that you sound like Darth Vader." Shawn joked, which earned him a hit over the head causing him to be unconscious once again.

"A lotta balls for a man who is about to be killed." The man mutter to himself.

* * *

Gus drove like a mad man in the blueberry as he raced to the scene after Henry managed to get the exact location from Buzz. They pulled up to the scene and the first thing Henry saw was the flipped taxi that was in a ditch on the side of the road.

Henry had a thousand things running through his head when he saw the taxi in the condition it was in. He was nervous because there was no sign of any moaning or grunting - meaning if there was any one inside, they must be dead.

After he parked the blueberry, Gus made a mad dash for the taxi with Henry right behind him. Henry had started to call out Shawn's name but got no response.

"The driver's dead; shard of glass to the throat, but there's something in the back seat." Henry said as he pointed to the pack.

Without any hesitation, Gus got down and crawled half way in and grabbed a hold of the backpack. He was surprised that he hadn't passed out at the sight of the dead man, but if that backpack held any hint of where Shawn could be, it was worth it. Once out of the car, he took a few deep breathes as he panted. Henry just sighed and snatched the bag from Gus.

"What? You know I have trouble being in small areas." Gus said in defense.

Henry payed no attention to Gus as he unzipped the backpack. He was shocked to see that it was full of clothes... Shawn's clothes. Then he noticed a corner of a fame sticking out of a shirt and unwrapped it. It was a picture of him, Gus, and Shawn but the glass of the picture had a big crack that went from one side of the frame to the other.

Henry scrunched his brows in confusion, before putting the pieces together. "He was leaving?"

"Santa Barbara?" Gus asked as he got off the ground and rushed to Henry's side.

"Last night. He was saying how he messed up."

"So? Shawn always messes up." Gus shrugged.

"No, he told me that I was a good dad, that he loved me." Henry explained.

Gus' eyes widened. "Oh God. Shawn was planning to leave for good." He thought aloud, as nearby sirens filled both of the men's ears.

A car door slammed shut. "Gus? Henry?!" Juliet sounded furious, and Lassiter's eyes looked like they would pop out of his head.

"You guys infected the crime scene!" He shouted as he walked towards them.

"Well maybe we should look at the big picture here, huh?" Henry started. "Tell me how Gus and I showed up here before you de-tective, when we left after you two? Hmm?" He questioned, as the two detective's seemed to think about it for a moment. More sirens filled their ears.

"Okay, Henry! Gus!" Juliet snapped. "You are not supposed to get your fingerprints all over the crime scene!" She scolded. "Get out of there, and leave the bag, Henry." She eyed and pointed at him until he dropped it.

"Fine!" Henry said raising his hand as he walked up the slight incline of the side of the road.

"I can't believe you two." Jules muttered to herself as she made her way to the car and narrowed her eyes at the sight of the dead driver.

Lassiter looked around the area. Near the front of the car there was a little blood on the floor. It was too far away for it to be the driver's, so he knew it had to be from Spencer. "Looks like there was a little scuffle here." He pointed out to Juliet.

"Shawn." Juliet gasped.

Henry grew impatient as he and Gus waited by the blueberry. "Why are we sticking around here? We know Shawn isn't here, and that someone obviously didn't want him to leave Santa Barbara." Henry said in a hushed tone as he casually leaned up against the car.

Gus nodded. "Where are we going to look next?"

"I don't know, but I bet we'll find out before the police do." Henry assured as he made his way to the other side of the car and got into the passenger side.


	5. Another Round

_**Author's Note:** Hey guys. Sorry this wasn't up sooner, my computer had crashed. Back on schedule now so hope you enjoy!_

**Chapter 5: Another Round**

Shawn was sweating and could barely breathe when he woke. It was silent in the room, so he guessed that the person had left. Speaking of this person... who were they? What did they want? He didn't recognize the voice at all, well besides the funny comment he had made about it being Darth Vader. Shawn wiggled his brows and made weird facial expressions till the blindfold came loose and started slipping.

Now that it had slipped past his eyes he looked around. He observed everything around him carefully. He was in a basement. He knew this because the windows were high up. It was dark in the room, but he noticed stacked boxes. This basement was familiar, he had been in this same basement once before.

Shawn was confused. Who had brought him back here to this place and why? It wasn't making sense, this case had been solved. The culprit had been arrested, he made sure this person was behind bars... unless, there was another.

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't take the bag." Henry sighed rubbing his face with his hand.

"What?" Gus said in a high pitched voice. "That's not what matters. What matters is that we find Shawn." He explained glancing to Henry as he spoke, but still tried to keep his eyes on the road.

"So we know it can't just be some random person." Henry thought aloud.

"Are you saying it has to be someone from his past?" Gus questioned.

"Yeah. I mean what is the coincidence that on the same day Shawn tries to leave Santa Barbara, a random stranger chases him with a gun? It's just not practical." Henry explained, as he looked out his window.

"Okay, so we know it has to be someone he knows." Gus noted.

They both seemed to go into thought as Gus pulled into a parking spot in front of the Psych office. When they got inside Henry wasn't sure if the messy table was from Shawn scrambling around last night or if it had just always been that messy.

"Shawn was looking for something." Gus nodded to the desk.

Henry shook his head, "Looks like he got what he needed."

"How do you know that?" Gus asked with a furrow of his brow.

"Because the only thing that is a mess is the desk, which is right when you come in, so this would be the first place to search, and seeing that nothing else seems to be a wreck, means he got what he needed." Henry pointed out.

Gus just nodded his head in understanding. "This still doesn't give us a clue." He sighed.

Henry just nodded, and as each second passed he felt more and more helpless. He was angry at the fact that he hadn't tried to stop Shawn earlier in the morning when Shawn had come to him. He should have known… Gus' phone began to ring which lead Henry to suppress his thoughts.

"Hello?" Gus answered. "It's Jules." He whispered to Henry and focused on what she was saying from the other end. Gus' eyes widened. "We'll be right there." He quickly said as he hung up. "They got something." He told Henry as the two rushed out to the car and to the Station.

It hadn't took Gus long to get there, and he happened to pass a few stop signs without stopping which shocked Henry, but he wasn't going to complain. Gus drove up to the doors and rushed out of the car with Henry by his side as they pushed past the front doors and found themselves standing as Lassiter gave a speech on their new found evidence.

Lassiter looked over and seen that Henry and Gus had arrived. "Everyone knows there places right? Good." Lassiter spoke to the officers then made his way to them. "In Chief's office." He said leading the way as they just followed.

Once there, Henry took notice to Juliet biting her nail, while Chief Vick read a piece of paper. Lassiter had closed the double doors behind them, then Vick had finally looked up, a worried expression came across her face as she tried to hide it.

"What is it?" Henry asked nodding to the paper, "Some kind of ransom note or something?"

Chief Vick stole a glance at Lassiter (who surprisingly showed concern too) then gazed back to Henry and Gus. "I'm afraid it's far worse." She simply put, handing the note over her desk to Gus who quickly took it.

Gus cleared his throat and brought the note up to his eyes and began to read aloud. "'_Again and again we play this game, for it has no end. You thought and you thought… and you thought twice again, gone you thought, but gone I am not!_'" Gus' eyes went wide as he flashed a worried look to the others, then quickly turned back to the note. "'_Surely you have found me in the past, but now your finder subsides next to me at last. Not as of late I said farewell so journey near not far, for I lay low at times, yet soar high, still in sight of the eagle's eye._' … that's where it ends." Gus looked up to the rest of them.

"That can't be-" Henry started, only to be cut off by Lassie.

"The bastards, Yin and Yang… that's our only lead." He answered.

"It was faxed to us… I just don't get it." Jules thought aloud. "Yin and Yang are both dead." She noted.

"Well Shawn is still missing and the only thing that is going to help us is this note." Gus began.

Lassiter nodded. "They are going to want a main player. Spencer was the player last time, so it's going to have to be one of us." He explained. "I say it's me."

Henry shook his head. "No way. This is my son and no offence, but I can figure things out a lot quicker than you, Lassiter."

"Oh yeah? Who was the one who got the note first?" Lassie shot back.

"I was." Juliet spoke up. "Which means I already started it." Juliet pointed out.

Gus cleared his throat as everyone turned to him. "None of you are going to play because I'm already in the game. It was me who was right beside Shawn every step of the way the last three times and Juliet you were already a victim, so I wouldn't risk it." He said as she lifted a brow.

"I hate to say it, but Mr. Guster has a point." Chief Vick stood, "He knows this game just as well as Shawn did and as much as I hate to leave it up to Mr. Guster, he and Henry have more experience with these clues than us." She nodded to Henry.

"Gus, what was the last part?" Henry questioned.

Gus picked up the paper. "It says, '_Not as of late I said farewell so journey near not far, for I lay low at times, yet soar high, still in sight of the eagle's eye._' … like a roller coaster?" He suggested.

Henry shook his head, "More like… a plane."

"A plane?" Lassiter questioned.

"Shawn had to have been followed, which mean's watched. The Eagle's eye could just mean that the next clue has to be somewhere the person can see us or has seen him." Gus explained.

"Good, Gus." Henry nodded. " They might be trying to keep tabs on us… what about the Psych office?"

"No, your house; didn't you say Shawn was saying goodbye to you? And the house has two stories, so maybe in Shawn's room again." Gus pointed out.

"Why would Shawn say goodbye?" Lassiter questioned thinking aloud.

"No time to chit-chat, let's go!" Henry said leaving the room in a rush, as they all followed.


	6. Best Friend's Instinct

**Chapter 6: Best Friend's Instinct**

The blueberry went over the curb and came to an abrupt stop in front of Henry's house. The front car doors swung open as Gus and Henry came running out. The two began to run towards the house before Gus noticed something out of the corner of his eyes that made him stop running.

"Wait!" He called out to Henry who was a few steps in front of him.

Immediately, Henry stopped and turned to Gus. "What? What is it?" He asked in a rush.

"You left the car door open." Gus pointed to the blueberry as he jogged back to shut it, only to turn around to see Henry's 'pissed' face.

"Shawn is missing and could be killed by the end of the day if we don't hurry, and you stopped me to tell me I left the freaking car door open?" He questioned curling his lips as he felt his blood boil.

"It's a company car!" Gus testified as he jogged to the front door of the house and entered it, making a beeline to the upstairs.

Lassiter and Juliet finally arrived as Lassiter huffed seeing that Gus had beat him to the house first. He put aside his feelings and rushed out of the car and into the house. The front door was already fully opened, so they just made their way quickly up the stairs to Shawn's room.

"Henry?!" Lassiter called out once they reached the room. "What is it?" Lassiter barely walked in the room and already seen the worried expressions on both Henry and Gus' face. Gus handed the note to Lassiter as he read it aloud to himself and detective O'Hara, "'_I mustn't rhyme for I have no time, I lay on a surface but it's a climb… for which ever side you choose to eye._'" Lassiter raised a brow. "That rhymes… all of that rhymes."

"This person it playing us. Trying to get under our skin." Henry explained. "He's mad because Shawn finished the game." Henry huffed. "I can't believe the bastard got in my house, again!" He said, curling his fists.

"Henry, you need to calm down!" Juliet stated. "Don't you see what this guy is doing? He is making us retrace our steps. Which means the next stop is the boardwalk." She stated.

"Yeah." Gus put a hand over his mouth as he went into deep thought. "But the place after that was the Psych office." He pointed out.

Lassiter nodded. "True. We could be one step ahead of the game… literally." He commented.

"You're saying that we don't go to the boardwalk, we just go straight to the Psych office?" Jules questioned, just to make sure she had her facts straight.

"Sounds like a plan. We could find Shawn faster." Henry answered. "The sooner the better." He mumbled to himself as they all rushed out of Shawn's old room and to the cars.

The car ride was very short and again Gus had beat Lassiter to the place, and that's when Lassie made a mental note to get an upgrade on his car engine. Henry and Gus were scrambling around the office looking for the next clue when the other two came in and began to search as well. They were looking for either a note or something that looked out of place.

"I got it!" Gus said jumping over a stack of papers that had been knocked over by Henry. "'_One step ahead indeed, but still not in front of me. Gathered we were; sooo close to home, drove by every week in which she stole a peek_.'" Gus scrunched up his face. "He knew we'd come here first." He sighed.

"I'm getting really tired of this game." Henry said. He was frustrated and he didn't think it was possible but he was more worried than an hour ago. He just kept thinking about how Shawn would have had already found the victim; he never did give much credit to his son.

"Hey, we are going to catch this guy." Lassiter assured. "We're going to bring this son of a bitch down and save Shawn." He stated.

Juliet just nodded, "I can't think straight." She whispered, taking a seat on the sofa next to the window.

Lassie gave her a sympathetic look, took in a deep breath, and looked over to Gus. "Guster, you have any clue?"

Gus stared at the floor as he continued to think. If this person kept referring to the time they dealt with Yang, then the only place that they had all went to was the house a few blocks away from Henry's. "I figured it out! Where Yin and Yang used to lived! They must have took Shawn there, nobody has moved into it since then. That's also where Yang first seen Shawn." Gus blurted out.

Lassiter nodded. "Come on, O'Hara. We'll meet you two there."

Gus nodded and with a quick glance over to Henry they went to the blueberry. As usual Gus drove. He looked nervous… more nervous than Henry, but again Henry didn't say anything about it. Looking at all the road signs they past was getting tiring but Henry stayed focused.

"Gus… Gus, you missed the turn!" Henry said, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

Gus shook his head. "No, Shawn's not at the house." He simply stated.

"What?" Henry questioned looking in his rear view mirror. "Gus, did you lie to Juliet and Lassiter?!" He asked in shock.

"Course not. The next clue will be at that house for sure, but Shawn isn't going to be there… I have a feeling I know where they are taking him." Gus explained.

Henry was still in shock and wanted to turn the car around. "This better be a strong feeling, Gus." Henry warned but trusted his son's best friend's instinct.

* * *

Shawn widened his eyes when he heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Someone was coming, and he still had the blindfold off. When the person came down the steps he widened his eyes. Shawn didn't recognize the person so he flashed a smile.

"How the hell did you get that off?" The person asked angrily.

"Listen man, why can't we be friends? Huh? … I bet we would be the best of friends." Shawn said in a completely calm manner. "But then again, I already have a best friend… and he's going to find me!" Shawn threatened.

"Oh, I have no doubt he will find you… he just won't find you alive." The man came closer.

"On second thought, you could be my best friend… I mean there's always room for some change, right?!" Shawn said, eyeing the knife the man had pulled out. "Your wife." Shawn blurted out.

"What?" the man sneered.

"Your wife." Shawn again repeated. "I'm sure she doesn't know you're doing this." He said, once he noticed the ring the man had on his left ring finger.

"Right, right. The boss told me you're a psychic."

"Yeah, and I take that as a no." Shawn looked at the man carefully to see if he could notice anything else. That was when he spied the scratches on the man's hands. "How's that rowdy cat of yours?"

"How did you know I have a cat?" The man asked, shocked and amazed.

"I'm psychic, man. Remember?"

"If you really are psychic, then tell me what's the color."

"Ooh, it's a little fuzzy since you did hit my head a few times." The man raised a brow, and Shawn felt some pressure. He looked carefully at the man's clothing and notice white fur on the black jacket the man wore. "White… I'm seeing white." Shawn stated.

"That's amazing man!" The guy said in complete shock, but his shocked expression quickly changed as he cleared his throat. "Come on." His voice returned to it's deep growl.

"Uh-oh, Darth Vader is back." Shawn widened his eyes as the man pushed Shawn to his feet.

"Shawn, Shawn, Shawn… you just don't know when to stop, do you?"

Shawn swallowed hard and shook his head as he tried to steady himself which he found it difficult since his hands were still tied behind his back. Shawn was standing as he turned to see the man sticking a piece of paper to the chair. It had a riddle on it and Shawn's eyes went wide.

"No. No, you're making them play the game! Is that what that is?!" He asked trying to free himself out of the rope.

The man finished and turned to Shawn. His fist came towards Shawn's face but quickly Shawn ducked, causing the man to hit the wooden pole behind him. Shawn tried to run but the man grabbed a shovel that was resting against the wall, tackled Shawn to the floor, and hit him over the head with it. The man threw the shovel to the floor as he dragged Shawn's body out of the house and into the trunk of a black four door sedan, and sped off.


End file.
